Welcome to Ghost of a Podcast. I'm your host, Jessica Lanyadoo. I'm an astrologer, psychic medium, and animal communicator, and I'm going to give you your weekly horoscope and no-bullshit mystical advice for living your very best life.

Welcome back to Ghost of a Podcast. This week, we have so much going on. And I am recording this feeling very much a lot of these energies, a lot of which are very Uranian. And if you are somebody who, in your study of astrology, is like, "I don't really get the planet Uranus. I don't get what it feels like"⁠—not in the birth chart, but in motion, well, pay attention because we have, especially the first half of this week, a kind of master class of experiencing Uranian energies. I will explain in just a minute.

Before I get into the very many details of this week's horoscope, I want to invite you to get pen and paper if you like taking notes, and I want to invite you to notice your nervous system throughout this episode. The reason why I say this, outside of it just being general good advice, is because Uranus governs the nervous system. And you are likely hearing this episode in the time of Uranus activation.

And so, when we experience Uranian activation, what we tend to experience is our nervous systems being set alight. And that's not a bad thing or a good thing. It's a human thing. If you are excited about something, if you feel really stimulated by something, someone, some idea, that's Uranus at play, or at least it can be. Similarly, if you're future-tripping, distracted, having a hard time with focus⁠—Uranus, Uranus, Uranus. Right?

So notice your nervous system as you listen to this episode. If you find yourself getting too distracted or caught up in the future, remember this little gift called your breath. You have it. It's accessible to you, I'm guessing most of the time. All bodies are different, but most of the time. And if you find yourself holding your breath, if you find yourself off in the ethers, take a moment. Take a breath. Relocate to your body so that you get the best benefits of this Uranian energy we're going through instead of feeling frayed. That's not what we're in it for.

Okay. Now, we're about to look at the astrology of August 18th through the 24th of 2024. There's going to be a Full Moon. It's going to be in Aquarius. It's going to be bananas. Let's dive right into it. Day one, Sunday, August 18th, we don't have one; we don't have two. We have three exact transits that I'm going to tell you about. The first one is⁠—big surprise⁠—to Uranus.

Mercury Retrograde will be forming a square to Uranus at 27 degrees and 10 minutes, with Mercury in Leo and Uranus in Taurus. This will be exact at 2:47 a.m. Pacific Time. The next transit is a Sun conjunction to Mercury. That'll be exact at 6:58 p.m., and it'll be with the Sun at 26 degrees and 36 minutes of Leo, Mercury still in Leo as well. And then, even later than that, at 10:53 p.m. Pacific Time, we've got Venus⁠—7 degrees of Virgo and 22 minutes⁠—forming an exact square to Jupiter, same degrees of Gemini.

It's a lot to keep track of. I warned you. There's a lot of heady activation here. So let me give you an overview and then break it down. Okay. So overview styles. There's a lot of energy on this day, and it's not just on this day. You'll have been feeling it Friday/Saturday leading up, the 16th/17th. You'll be feeling it for days afterwards. But here we have the peak day of all three of these transits and all three of these transits overlapping so intensely.

Uranus and Jupiter will function in such a way where they're egging us on. They're egging you on to follow your impulses, to follow your distractions, to follow your innovations, your eccentricities, your big ideas. And those big ideas may be incredibly inspired. They may be expansive and exactly what you need or what your life needs or the world needs. And they may just be kind of messy, basically.

And at no point do you want to lose track of the fact that Mercury is Retrograde. Mercury is involved in two out of the three transits, and Mercury is related to communications, your friends, your plans, your ideas, and the Retrograde motion means we're meant to reflect. We're not meant to boldly go where no one has gone before without a good deal of reflection and recalibration. Mercury Retrograde is a bit of an internal transit that creates a lot of external distractions and annoyances that can offer really useful opportunities to seriously shift your perspective, to evolve, to learn, to grow.

So it's going to be challenging to know what of your brilliant ideas to feed, what opportunities are exciting yeses or exciting distractions. You know what I'm saying? There's no pressure to have the right answer. There's no pressure to have the right answer. What you want to do is practice staying present. That's the move⁠, staying present even when you're excited, staying present even if things go sideways on you⁠—staying present.

And⁠—very important context here⁠—we've got a bunch of very intense exact transits on Monday, August 19th, including a Full Moon in Aquarius, a very Uranian Full Moon in Aquarius. So the energy is electric. So let me get into the details of these three transits.

Mercury square to Uranus⁠—that's the first one that's exact on this day. This transit hopefully sounds a little familiar to you because it is familiar to you. We just went through it on July 21st, and we're going through it again because Mercury is Retrograde. It's going to happen again next month, so we'll have three hits of this particular transit. And whatever was going on for you or in the world on or around the 21st of July is going to be connected to what happens to you, for you, around you here.

Mercury square to Uranus is exciting. It can be a transit that brings about a great deal of change, innovation, and forward-moving potential. Very exciting, right? But the thing is that Uranus always requires adaptability. It always requires a willingness to go your own way, to take risks that reflect who you truly are. And the risky thing with Uranus is that, like I said, we future-trip. We get distracted. It's a similar risk with Mercury.

So the excitement that this Mercury square to Uranus brings can be the kind of excitement that shows up when you're making progress, and it can be the kind of excitement that you experience when you are distracted and kind of like a dog chasing your own tail situation. And because Mercury is Retrograde now, you may need to revisit whatever was going on around the 21st. Because Mercury is Retrograde, you may be operating off of a misunderstanding or miscommunication. You just want to double-check, maybe even triple-check, a thing.

This transit spikes distractions and kind of mental tension or anxiety. And because of that, it's going to be in your best interest, if you're somebody who tends to get like that, to do what you can to simplify things or to breathe or to simply do what you can to get centered or grounded⁠—whatever is easier for you to do when your system's overstimulated.

Mercury square to Uranus is actually like a really⁠—I think it's a really great transit. And it's a great transit because it can help you to shift your thinking in a meaningful way, to shift your plans in a meaningful way. The key to making sure that it's meaningful is that it's not just reactive and to make sure that your ideas or plans are somehow grounded into your present life instead of your fantasies about what's possible or whatever in the future.

Uranus is very concerned with the future, which is why it's associated with counterculture and progressivism and the internet and electricity and all of these things. It's like innovations and breakthroughs are related to Uranus, which is a big thumbs-up, right? Yay. But where Uranus is concerned, one can uphold ideas and theories at the expense of humanity. Ideas can overtake felt and lived experience.

Astrology is a Uranian practice, and I think that's something we see in the world of astrology⁠—people using it in a way to kind of evade and work around one's lived experience and humanity instead of as a way to help facilitate your lived experience and deepen your humanity.

Now, on the same day, as you know, the Sun will be conjunct to that Mercury Retrograde. And this transit is interesting because what it tends to do is it tends to have you feeling very identified with your ideas. And that can get you into trouble because when we're overidentified with our opinions, there's kind of a pattern that you may have experienced either in yourself or other people when you take it personally when other people don't agree with you.

Needing other people to agree with you in order to feel safe with them, heard, seen, all of that kind of stuff⁠—that is a tricky little monster. The truth is having the ability to know what you think, know what you believe, know what you are, and to be present with contrast⁠—that's really powerful. And a Sun conjunction to Mercury is not usually the time where that occurs. It's a time when you're like, "I need you to understand me in my words, not in your words. I need you to agree with me in order for me to feel safe or seen with you." That's not ideal.

But the good news is Mercury is fucking Retrograde, which means you may have the opportunity to catch yourself in the act of needing other people to be like you in order to believe that they like you. You can catch it; make a different choice. You can let people be whoever the hell they are and know that that is a reflection on them and not a reflection on you. You are you, and you get to be you, whatever that means⁠—the good, the bad, the ugly, all of it. And other people get the same. And this Mercury Retrograde with these two transits activated leading up to this very intense Full Moon⁠—this is going to be an opportunity for you to be true to you, even when you're in contrast.

Now, another thing that this transit can bring about is busyness. Mercury square to Uranus⁠—ditto. Venus square to Jupiter⁠—ditto. Sun conjunction to Mercury is busy. These are all three transits that can be very social. They can bring about a million phone calls and emails and plans, and your dams are just lit up. All of a sudden, everybody wants an answer. Everybody wants to connect⁠—that kind of a thing.

So the busyness of these transits⁠—all three of them⁠—can be really fun. And also, because of all the things that are happening at once, they can also be an opportunity for you to drop the damn ball. That's not the ideal thing, but it's very possible. So, if you have projects or work going on that requires intense focus and being meticulous, these transits are going to really bum you out because they are not helping at all. I would recommend that you put your phone on Do Not Disturb, you do whatever it is that you can do to push out distractions so you can focus on whatever it is that needs doing, because I expect there to be a whole lot of distractions, my friends.

Okay. Now that brings me to the third exact transit of this day. We've got Venus square to Jupiter. And again, I know I'm giving you a lot of data. I want to remind you that if you want to track the transits with the same tool that I use, you can subscribe to my transit tracker, which just basically tells you exactly when the transits are happening, and there's a note-taking function so you can track my predictions, your predictions, your experiences, etc. That's Astrology for Days, and it's over at astrologyfordays.com. Also, I provide transcripts to each and every episode on my very adorable website. You can find it at ghostofapodcast.com or lovelanyadoo.com.

Okay. Venus square to Jupiter is a fun, warm transit. It is good for flirting, for hooking up, for making art, for having fun socially, for feeling good in general, like randomly picking a restaurant and your pick is good; the food⁠—delightful. Venus square to Jupiter⁠—a lovely transit. It's not helpful for concentration. It's not helpful for focus. It is a little bit of a self-indulgent, hedonistic transit, which is nothing if it is not demure. However, in the context of these transits, it can kind of serve to put a person in a frame of mind where they don't want to deal with things directly or you just kind of lean into the hedonism and away from being intentional. And I don't recommend that.

This is a bad time to spontaneously make major purchases, pretty much all week, but certainly Venus square to Jupiter⁠—not good for making major purchases. On its own, this transit's never really great for money. However, again, contextually, there's too much impulsive energy riding you. So you may want to buy some happy, and this is not a good time to do that. I mean, I don't know if it's ever a good time to do that, but it's certainly not a good time to do that now.

Other than that, this transit's fun for playing dress-up, making art, hooking up, like I said. It's a fun, chill transit. And especially if it's hitting your chart directly, you can get the benefit of it in all of this sharp energy we're feeling.

Now, that brings us to the big day of this week, which is Monday, August 19th, upon which day we have a very chaotic Full Moon in Aquarius, but that's maybe the least of it. It's not the least of it, but there's so much more happening. So, once again, I'm going to tell you about the not one, not two, but three exact transits happening on Monday the 19th, keeping in mind the other three exact transits are also happening, and also keeping in mind that astrology⁠—I mean, does astrology create conditions, or does it reflect conditions? Does astrology reflect the ways in which we are working within a universe or a system that actually has an order to it and has a math to it; it makes sense? And within that, we have our free will, with which we can do any damn thing. Or is astrology just telling us what's going to happen and when? I tend to think we have free will and that the way that we choose to engage with the energies at play are a reflection of circumstances, free will, predestiny⁠—it's a recipe of them all. It's not one or the other.

So, keeping all that⁠—little musings⁠—in mind, at 1:30 a.m. Pacific Time, Venus is exactly opposite Saturn. Venus is at 17 degrees and 30 minutes of Virgo, and Saturn is at the same degrees of Pisces. A little later in the morning, 9:45 a.m. Pacific Time, the Sun is now exactly square to Uranus. Makes sense, right? Because yesterday the Sun and Mercury were conjunct exactly, and Mercury was exactly square to Uranus. So it stands to reason that now the Sun is exactly square to Uranus, 27 degrees and 11 minutes.

At 11:26 a.m., shortly thereafter, the Moon is at 27 degrees and 15 minutes of Aquarius, which is exactly opposite the Sun at 27 degrees and 15 minutes. That's, again, 11:26 a.m. Pacific Time. And then, a little later on that afternoon, we have an exact square between Jupiter and Saturn. We've been feeling this one build for a while. We will continue to feel it through September and most of October, and then it'll come back around. So this is a big transit.

The fact that the Full Moon in Aquarius and the Jupiter square Saturn⁠—which is this larger, ongoing transit⁠—are overlapping with each other is absolutely worth noticing. I'm going to give you an overview of what to expect on the day, and then we're going to get deep into the details.

So we're still Mercury square Uranus, Sun conjunct Mercury, Venus square Jupiter-ing. And now we've got the added layers to consider of the loneliness and insecurity that a Venus opposition to Saturn can provoke. It can really just make you feel like there isn't enough for you⁠—enough love, enough money, enough friends. Other people have things that you don't have. It's kind of a boner killer.

The Sun square to Uranus, much like the Mercury square to Uranus⁠—it activates the nervous system. It creates restlessness and distractedness. It creates the opening for things to shift. And then Jupiter square Saturn is a transit that always tests how well we've put life together. Freedom is Jupiter⁠; responsibility is Saturn. And when they are at a 90-degree angle, a.k.a. a square, you need to ask yourself the question, "Do I have enough? Do I have too much? What's the right proportion of the thing?" You want attention from your bestie, but how much attention? Do you want to hear from them every hour? Do you want to hear from them frequently, in some other context? What about the quality of the contact you have with them? Do you just want to be in constant light contact, or do you want depth of contact, maybe less frequently? I don't fucking know. There's a million ways to be in countless situations.

But this little example hopefully reflects what I'm talking about, right? What might be ideal for me might be really bad for you. Proportion is relative to a situation, to a person, to a time. So we want to keep all that in mind. The Venus opposition to Saturn can have us really caught up in the past, while the Sun square to Uranus has us focused on the future. And Full Moons⁠—well, you know what they do. They bring up all the emotions. They bring up our emotions to the surface so that we deal with them one way or another.

Emergency responders will often experience more chaos during a Full Moon, and this is because whatever you've been spending the month kind of trying to push down⁠—yeah, the Full Moon comes around and is like, "Yeah, no more," which is why you may feel like acting out. You may feel bad or just really intense on a Full Moon because you're feeling emotions not just that are present, but that have been present but you were successful in not feeling. So Full Moons are really helpful.

Now, that said, overview styles⁠—this is a lot of energy all at once. Depending on how each transit hits your birth chart, you're going to feel differently than the person sitting next to you. But the thing to know is that there's a lot of energy coming up inside of you and also up inside of everyone, and also in the world. And you do not need to make permanent decisions about any or all of it. I mean, I don't know. Maybe you actually do really need to make decisions. Maybe you just are making decisions. And if that's the case, again, in some meaningful way, this is a test of how well you know yourself, of your ability and willingness to let go of control, and whether or not that reflects not taking responsibility for your choices or moving with universal flow.

There's not a right or a wrong answer. There's not one way of being. You are not completely isolated from other people. So you may be making choices that are really well aligned for you, and those choices may require the participation of people who are not totally aligned. We don't get to control things⁠—not with astrology and not with our actions. We just don't get to control things. And so it is wise to stick with the central lesson of a Full Moon in Aquarius, and also these transits involving Mercury and Uranus, and be adaptable. The best way to be adaptable is to be present because it's hard to adapt when you're focused on the future or fixated on the past.

Now, that said, let me give you the details of these transits. The Venus opposition to Saturn is a heavy transit. On its own, honestly, it can be really impressive. Like I said, it can make you feel lonely and sad and fixated on losses you've had in the past, feeling really just bad about the way you look, feeling bad about your finances, feeling bad about relationship stuff. And this transit can kick up guilt around any and all of these themes. It's a scarcity-based transit because Venus and Saturn are two of the most security/stability-oriented planets.

But in context of all of this unpredictable, flippity-floppity energy from Uranus, including the Full Moon, it can be a bit grounding if you can stay aligned with your values⁠—Venus⁠—with your convictions, commitments, and what is sustainable and possible realistically for you. The Venus opposition to Saturn can actually help to ground the chaotic energy and have you making choices, or at least assessing your options, in a way that reflects what's true and real and important to you.

This transit can always be a time where you functionally work on your relationships⁠—and your relationships with people, but also the Venusian themes of aesthetics and finances, etc. So that's the part we want to really focus on, is a willingness to not just show up in the present but to be intentional and make plans for the future. It's pretty good.

Now, the Sun square Uranus is going to sound radically different than that. Sun square to Uranus⁠—it gives you a neuro-spicy, main character syndrome vibe. The Sun is⁠—it's you. It's like your center, your sense of self. The Sun is the part of us that wants to be perceived, to be known, and to be received in a powerful way. And Uranus is unpredictable, super unpredictable.

A Sun square to Uranus is going to create all kinds of changeability in either your identity, your sense of self, how you're showing up, or how other people receive you. Now, I'm going to talk about this transit a lot more in the context of the Full Moon chart. Of course, the Full Moon itself includes the Sun. And so I have a lot more to say about this, which we'll come back to in a moment.

But before we do that, let's talk about that Jupiter square to Saturn. I want to just ground you into it. This particular transit, because it's between two social planets⁠—Jupiter and Saturn are considered social, and then the generational ones would be Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, although, honestly, I often think of Jupiter and Saturn as generational even though I know it's not technically accurate. But okay.

Because these are social, generational planets, they affect our longer-term development in a bigger way, and they also affect society, the world, in a bigger way, in a longer-term way⁠—so not more important. All these other transits and the Moon⁠—very important. But it's very structural, the Jupiter square to Saturn. So it's important to pay attention to it and to understand that the Full Moon and this transit are interconnected at this time, and also, that Jupiter square Saturn exists beyond the Full Moon and these other transits.

So this is where I want to, for the first time in this particular episode, point out that Monday the 19th is an important day for American politics, as it is the beginning of the DNC. And so this Jupiter square to Saturn is really consequential in terms of presidential elections here in the U.S. Now, there are very fucking major things happening in many other countries. But as this is not a world politics podcast, this is what I will focus on by saying the DNC begins today, the Democratic National Convention. And this is deeply consequential because we will have the democratic nominee share her plan. I believe a lot of it's already been unveiled, but this is where a lot happens.

The progressivism of Jupiter and the conservatism of Saturn are on the fucking docket. So how do you create progressive change in a system that is set up to be reprocessed, a hierarchical, capitalistic system? How do you create space for humanity, progress? It's part of what the Jupiter square to Saturn is asking us to consider.

This is interesting to me, that these two things are happening at the same time⁠—the start of the DNC, Jupiter square Saturn. And to me, it's a little hopeful because it's like the astrology is pushing for progress. The astrology is pushing for accountability. I am such a fan of those two things.

Now, on another level, Jupiter square to Saturn tends to bring things to a point where you actually have to deal with them. And so it could be a crisis of consciousness. It could be a crisis, like shit happens and you have to do things. It could be you finally have to be responsible to a thing you've been putting off, or you finally need to break free from something that has been really limiting you and keeping you small in some meaningful way. We can also apply that to social and political conditions as well.

One thing for sure⁠—Jupiter square to Saturn is consequential, and it's consequential with big themes because fucking Jupiter is big. So, if you have been on the verge of letting go of something, making a change, if you've been on the verge of taking a big leap, this transit is kind of egging you on. Now, all the astrology that we've been talking about is egging you on. But again, Jupiter/Saturn is big themes. It's big shifts. It's big responsibility. It's big freedom.

So I want to just kind of put that in your head because Saturn requires accountability. It requires some measure of adulting. It requires responsibility, diligence, patience, all that kind of good stuff. And Jupiter is all about what you believe. It's adventure and expansion and growth, and it can bring about regeneration. So the tension between these two energies is valuable to engage with, super valuable.

Now, let's put it together and talk about this Full Moon chart. Okay. The Moon is full 11:26 a.m. Pacific Time August 19th, and as I said, the Sun 27 degrees Leo, the Moon 27 degrees Aquarius. That Sun/Mercury conjunction is still very active. It's not in exactitude, but it is less than a degree apart. So we have this highly self-identified, self-referential, potentially self-obsessed Mercury Retrograde conjunction to the Sun in Leo. It's like, "This is what I want. This is how I feel. This is what I need. You need to focus on me. You need to see me. You need to show up for me." And it's opposite to the Moon in Aquarius, 27 degrees, 15 minutes.

Now, that Moon in Aquarius⁠—it can be heady. It can be a little self-referential. It can be a little like, "I'm focusing on me. I'm doing me." But it is ultimately concerned with freedom, with authenticity. And the Sun and Mercury opposite the Moon can intensify this theme of taking everything personally. And listen. On the one hand, everything is personal. The political is personal. How you feel about how someone treats you⁠—it's totally personal to you how a person treats you. Also, is it? Is it? Or is it true that the way other people treat you is a reflection of them? But what you do, how you engage, who you choose to be around, etc. is more of a reflection on you.

A Moon opposition to Mercury makes everything feel so personal, and it makes it really hard to parse through your thoughts versus your feelings. Now, times that times 100, given that the Moon is full. And this Sun/Mercury conjunction in Leo opposite the Moon in Aquarius is forming a very tight T-square to Uranus at 27 degrees and 11 minutes. This is meant to rattle your foundations. It is meant to rattle your sense of self, the narrative you are so attached to about who you are, about what your relationships are, about where you're going⁠—kind of all of it.

This is a dynamic and deeply bananas Full Moon in Aquarius. Now, of course, Uranus is the ruling planet to the zodiac sign of Aquarius. And so this further strengthens the Uranian influence. Now, we know that the Sun/Uranus square is exact on this day. So is the Full Moon, exactly square to Uranus. They are off by 4 minutes⁠—0 degrees, 4 minutes. That is so tight. Oh my God.

So here's what it means. It means you can expect the unexpected. You can expect your nervous system to be really rattled, just rattled, and everyone around you⁠—same. And so, when your nervous system is really engaged, maybe you get excited, and it's super fun for you. Maybe you get anxious. Maybe you get really fixated on trying to control little things, or you're irritable, or if you're anything like a lot of us, all of those things happen at once. So you should expect that even if everything is chill for you, which⁠—I mean, this is not a chill Full Moon, but even if everything is chill for you, people around you are going to be weird. And it may be personal to you why and how they're being weird, but it's for sure also not. Lean into that paradox. It's an "and also" moment.

And there is a serious risk that you and me and everyone else will take everything so seriously and make it about us, so much so that you miss out on the real opportunity here, which is to allow big feelings, big beliefs, big habits to come to the surface, that you follow that rule of re's with that Mercury Retrograde, and you reflect on it; you're willing to unlearn, to adapt. And in doing so, you access greater freedom, greater self-awareness, self-acceptance, and you take a new path.

And this taking of a new path isn't necessarily a material thing. It might mean choosing to not engage when you're in a dynamic with someone that you always engage with them when something comes up. It can be super small. It can be big. Remember we're not looking for a braggadocios amount of progress. We're just looking for real progress. That's it.

Like I said, this is going to be a very unpredictable Full Moon. You can expect chaos. And because Mercury is Retrograde and Uranus is the focal planet to a T-square between the Sun, Moon, and Mercury, yeah⁠, internet shit⁠—we can expect that to be bananas. So expect the unexpected. If you're traveling, I apologize in advance of all the things that potentially could go wrong because this can lead to serious technical difficulties, or discoveries and innovations. I mean, it can kind of go any way.

Because the DNC is starting and happening on this day, I gotta say I am expecting the unexpected. It could be protests from any side. It could be major technical difficulties, major surprises. I mean, I'm not an optimist, but it could be that the agenda and the conversation is radically more progressive than we've seen in the past because, of course, Uranus is related to progressivism, as is Aquarius, although we have a lot of evidence of a lot of different people having radically different ideas about what progress actually means.

And the truth is Uranus is a radical planet. It brings up revolution. It brings up radical thinking. And all experiments and progress ultimately are considered radical at the start. That said, this Full Moon may trigger revolutionary developments in the world, not just inside of you. And what you want to do is not jump to conclusions. What you want to do is tend to your nervous system but also participate. Participate in your own mental health. Participate in your own emotional health. Participate in your relationships. This is not a time to hide away. Participate in the situations and the communities that mean something to you, and participate in the world because the world needs you. I am convicted around it.

And before you go putting weird pressure on yourself, participating in the world when you're burned out often means resting, digesting. There's not only one form of participation. And you've got to trust yourself and use common sense in all things. And it's really worth me saying that right now because this is such an Aquarian, Uranian Full Moon, common sense can go out the damn window. I mean, thankfully, Venus is opposite to Saturn, grounding us into reality a little bit. But this is not a super common-sensey Full Moon, for better or for worse, because there's a lot of potential in this Full Moon. I'm excited about it. And also, I may be biting my nails about it a little bit. It's a lot. It's a lot.

This is like a shaken and not stirred kind of experience. And so, if you feel rattled, you are not alone. You are not alone. Rattled is not inherently bad. Whenever I talk about Uranus, I often use the word "upsetting" because Uranus brings upsets. And it's understandable because in English, we talk about upsets as changes but also as things that make you feel sad and bad. You have to upset the status quo in order to create progress and change. Upsets are not inherently bad. They're just really not inherently bad.  But they do require adaptability. And it is much easier to be adaptable when you're not too attached to your ideas about the way things should be or to feeling a sense of control, which⁠—easier said than done, but also real talks.

In this Full Moon chart, there's something else worth mentioning, which is that Mars and Jupiter are really close to each other. They're not conjunct anymore. That was last week. But they're very close. Mars is at almost 20 degrees, and Jupiter is at 17, and Venus and Saturn opposite each other at 17 and 18 degrees. That's a T-square involving Venus, Saturn, Mars, and Jupiter, with Mars and Jupiter as the focal planets.

The upshot is, again, major impulsiveness, major impulsiveness in this chart. You are likely to either feel impulsive and to really drive yourself towards freedom or growth, or you may be dealing with other people who are doing that when you're just trying to actually hunker down and create stability and security. On a social level⁠—and I can't help but keep on returning to the DNC, but again, it speaks to the risk of violence. It speaks to the risk of major impulsive, explosive developments, which could be really great or really bad or really mixed. Again, we are dealing with unpredictable energies, and I'm really interested to see how it's going to shake down.

Now, the closing thing I want to say about this Full Moon is that it would be very easy to be so in your head, either in your thoughts or in your anxieties, that you miss out on the opportunity to be vulnerable. Vulnerability is hard work. Being vulnerable is an act of strength. And if you are scrambling to have control, to keep things the same, to have reassurances when there aren't any, then you're missing out. You're missing out on the opportunity that this astrology is bringing.

So, as awkward and scary and challenging as it may be, I want to encourage you to tap into your vulnerability, to let go of control, and instead point yourself towards authenticity because that's where the alignment is. That's where the joy is. That's where your happiness is.

And a final word I will say about this particular Full Moon⁠—mind your Ps and Qs. In other words, don't get in other people's business. You do not need to police other people. Please do not police other people. Do not tell other people how they should live. This is not your business. You know what I mean? I mean, I don't know. Maybe you're in a position, like you're a parent, and you need to tell people how to live and what to do. Pick your battles with great intention and wisdom because we've all been there when somebody's trying to keep us close, and it just pushes us further away. If someone says to you, "Back off," my best advice is to back the fuck off. Okay? Okay.

Now, that all said⁠—and that was a lot⁠—we still have more to go. So let's get into the astrology for Thursday, August 22nd. Okay. So, on Thursday, August 22nd, the Sun moves into Virgo. Happy Virgo Season to you all. And we have a Venus square Mars. This transit is another really social transit, kind of like the Venus square to Jupiter. Similar to the Venus square to Jupiter, what we have is kind of a drive to connect with people or to connect creatively. This transit can also be pretty sexy.

Now, we're still in the energies of all these other transits. And so, while I'm not going to make any kind of major predictions about this particular transit, it is going to serve to kind of, again, further egg you on. So, if you're still feeling rattled and your relationships are just kind of really needing your attention, this transit's not going to help. However, Venus is diplomacy, and Mars is aggression or assertion. Venus can also be pretending everything's fine when it's not.

And so the tension between these two planets can trigger greater self-awareness about how you've been handling things and how you are handling things. That's really helpful. Just make sure not to lose your temper or be disingenuous.

Okay. So the last transit we're going to talk about this week is on Friday, August 23rd. We have a Mercury sextile to Mars. That will be exact at 9:31 p.m. Pacific Time. And Mercury is at 22 degrees and 48 minutes of Leo. Mars is at the same degrees of Gemini. This transit⁠—it speeds things up again. It supports speaking your mind, being brave enough to look at things⁠—because, of course, we have Mercury Retrograde, so being brave enough to look inside of yourself and reflect on things, to have hard conversations, to flirt, to put yourself out there, to meet new people. It can help you to be more direct and more forthright, which is also really helpful, and just very generally, kind of like some transits we had earlier in the week, tend to quicken the temple of your social life. So you might run into a bunch of people. Your group chat may be busy⁠—that kind of a thing.

The trick here is to make sure that you're not rushing boldly into conversations or plans without first having given your nervous system a little bit of a pause this week. So, even though this is a really lovely and supportive transit, it can egg you on. If you're already not on the right path, this is not the most helpful transit. If you are on the right path, however⁠—fantastic, wonderful transit.

This transit does not help with patience, but it does help with bravery. You might need a little extra support in pacing yourself, but this transit can help you to get more information, have the hard conversation, explore what's possible, and tap into your agency, your free will, or your willfulness in general. If there's something you have to do that is kind of competitive, this can be helpful as long as you're somewhat centered or grounded, which⁠—again, most of the astrology this week is not really supportive of that. So that'll take a little intentionality and work on your end.

And that, my friends, is it. It's a lot. Thank you for sticking with me through this whole big forecast. And let me just run through the transits one more time. On Sunday the 18th, we have Mercury Retrograde square to Uranus. We also have an exact Sun conjunction to that Mercury Retrograde, and Venus is exactly square to Jupiter. On the 19th, Venus is exactly opposite Saturn. The Sun is exactly square to Uranus. We have that dang Full Moon in Aquarius and an exact Jupiter square to Saturn. On the 22nd, Venus is exactly square to Mars. On the 23rd, Mercury Retrograde is exactly sextile to Mars.

As always, if you want to learn more with me, join me over on Patreon or check out the Shop page on my website, where you can purchase webinars and take some classes with me, if you're into learning astrology, if that's your thing.

I know that this is a bit of a chaotic week, so do remember to take good care of yourself and others. And I'll talk to you in just a couple of days. Buh-bye.